In many respects, the nVidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti is the best out there. It's got the best specifications and produces astounding frame rates in real-world gaming. It's also relatively quiet next to the 290X. Having said all that, we'd still recommend the 290X to most users. That's because there's a £160 price gap which, in our opinion, isn't quite bridged by the Ti's superiority. For the time being it remains just that bit too expensive to take the recommendation as best value high-end card. However, if money is no object, this is the best single-GPU gaming card out there. And when the price falls so that the difference between this and the 290X drops to two figures, the 780 Ti will almost undoubtedly become the top high-performance deal on the market.

This card may be something of an irrelevance to many people. It's simply more expensive than most of us would pay for a graphics card. But its cooling system is a sign of the future, and makes this towering powerhouse a feasible option for home users, provided they don't mind paying for increased electricity too. More to the point, there is no other graphics card anywhere near to it - and it doesn't look as though it'll have similarly priced competition any time in the next few months. For those lucky few who can afford the best gaming rig, this marvel will be the jewel in a hot but utterly dazzling crown.

It's hard to get excited about a card like the 265. Nonetheless, it serves an important purpose for those who have a very specific budget. We certainly wouldn't recommend the 750 Ti over this card, as the 265 is very much the superior product in terms of performance. It's a shame that it doesn't have the features of some of the the newer AMDs. As a value for money product, though, the 265 is another very capable addition from AMD.

AMD's policy of retooling old hardware as new chips is paying dividends. The 280X is a hard card to beat at its price-point. The 270X, too, is a rather good card for the money, and not that far behind the 280X. Having said that, the latter does have a superior memory configuration, and pulls out a noticeable, if not enormous gap, all the way along. If you can afford it, the 280X is still the one to go for. The 270X, though, will do very well, and is an excellent card for the money.

The 260X is the superior card for gamers - even if the difference isn't quite as big as you might think. We were mostly seeing average increases of 3-4fps. The most we saw was, in Crysis 3, a gap of almost 7fps. But if you need strong gaming performance for less than £100, this is the best product here, and can handle games even at the relatively high resolution of 1920x1200.

For those who value noise and lower power consumption, the GTX 780 is the better product. In terms of performance, though, there's no question that the R9 290X cruises past its similarly-priced rival. The card is loud and furious, but it romps through the benchmarks, beating even the Titan in the majority of tests - despite that card costing considerably more. We'll be interested to see what AMD can do about producing a more efficient and quieter card in the future that can produce speed close to that of the 290X. In the meantime, though, this is generally an excellent product that moves to the head of the high-performance league. You might want to don some headphones though.

A lot of the 960's appeal will come down to what you want the card for. If low power consumption is a must, then the 960 is an obvious buy at this price point - it really is astoundingly efficient compared to the competition. However, if you're more interested in raw figures, it's a harder decision. This Zotac costs is currently around £20 cheaper than the 280X, but about 2-3fps down on speed. Likewise, it's a similar amount more expensive than the 285, this time being 2-3fps faster. At this pricing, there's very little to choose between them, although the 960's lower power output will make it rather better value than either once you take running costs into account. That, added to HEVC support, makes this marginally the best card at this price point, in our opinion. Another £20 needs to be taken off the price, though, in order to establish it as a clear winner.

While we were initially disappointed by the lack of innovation in the new range, as an overall deal, the 280X is an exceptional deal. The 770 is only a little faster, but it is considerably more expensive - and once manufacturers start really juicing the 280X, we should see its performance lift by another 2-3fps. If the gap to the 770 was £20, we'd be faced with a dilemma. When the price difference is around £80, though, the 280X has to be the better choice. The 760 is around £45 cheaper, but is a long way behind the 280X in terms of raw figures, and will struggle more in the future than the 3GB ATI. If you're in the market for a card at around the £250 mark, this is a clear first choice. A win for new technology, it might not be, but a victory for the consumer? Undoubtedly.

The nVidia GTX 770 might not quite have the showmanship of the 780, but it is better value for money. It offers strong gaming performance without being extortionately priced. The 2GB memory is a small concern as this may look a little dated two years hence. For use with games today and over the next year or so, though, it's likely to remain a compelling choice.

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Comments

John 'Genryu' said: Comments,John 'Genryu',Stop being so lazy and actually write a new article, rather than rehashing this one, complete with errors.

Alan Peach said: Comments,Alan Peach,lol @ lack of r9 290 (not x) cards - two Asus Direct Cu II's have served me bloody well. When I next upgrade it'll be Fiji, if the specs are to be believed, not any of this nonsense.

dave said: Comments,dave,"popular online store" don't even sell the 770 any more, delete this abysmal list from the internets!!!! SFF = GT740 Budget = 750ti / 960 4GB Mid = 970/290X high = 980 and whatever £$1000 card, at time of typing 390X/Titan X not around.That list is plucked from thin air and its better than this tripe.

Vox Populi said: Comments,Vox Populi,this is spam; GTX 980 and GTX 970 are not in the list and the prices are not up to date.So they took an old article and changed the title to mentioned 2015.misleading, disinformative, very poor and unethical journalism.

asfasg said: Comments,asfasg,Yes, but you see there are people answering her 4 years after she posted it!Should I bother answering as well since I want to help, or do you think it won't matter?

Matt Egan said: Comments,Matt Egan,We regularly update this story to keep up with the market. It's been on the URL for around five years. We have previously deleted all the older comments, but people get angry!

asfasg said: Comments,asfasg,Next to your name it says that you posted this 4 years ago, at least in my screen, I am confused, linda.

michael said: Comments,michael,it will not work on present and future games ..get intel i7 4690k for cpu, nvidia gtx 980 or 970 or amd 290x or 280 then 16gb of RAM

Anidox said: Comments,Anidox,I used GPUBoss's GPU Comparison Tool and compared them all and the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti was the best

Sean said: Comments,Sean,yeaa probably a little old no matter what anybody says as i have owned both the r9 280x is a great card but for price to performance the gtx 970 is the best any day of the week 280 pound from ebuyer and it kills any game at 1080p thrown at it

Big Mess said: Comments,Big Mess,The R9 270 or R9 280 or R9 280X are the best cards you can buy for the money. Seller and PC builder and Technician

Benfoster said: Comments,Benfoster,completely ignore the 970?

alanfalon said: Comments,alanfalon,i love this card, http://www.gpuhouse.net/gigaby... its perfect for gaming and its a great price too.

Smithy said: Comments,Smithy,Good idea. What cards do you recommend?

eric said: Comments,eric,hey please reply my laptop has 6gigs of ram and running on windows 8 with the intel processor i3 what should i get the i5 or i7 for gamming? or what do you sugest for best gamming perfromance to handle a game such as world of war craft of perfect world international please help!?

Blaire Nadal said: Comments,Blaire Nadal,There's no denying Nvidia is reigning the GPU in the HD gaming arena. I'm just not over with the cooling issue though. Right now I'm using AMD Radeon and its pretty fine for me. Thanks for the gadget review

Jdbr0wn1 said: Comments,Jdbr0wn1,how often do they come up with "new better more powerful cards" ? i'm guessing every 2 to 3 months, how can they be coming up with new, exciting, better cards continually than the useless piece of crap you spent £400 on three months ago? I think AMD and Nvidia are milking the market. and if theyre cards are crap 3 to 6 months after you buy one, then spend your money elsewhere

Matt Egan said: Comments,Matt Egan, And now we have. Better late then never.

Dennis McCormack said: Comments,Dennis McCormack,Tech. It is unfair and not correct ,The XFX/ati/radeon 5970 leaves the 580 for dead ,when fitted with accelero ! NO CONTEST.

Matt Egan - Editor said: Comments,Matt Egan - Editor,Thanks for helping linda guys - in the interests of balance can I also suggest CCL Computers as a good option too: they can recommend a good GPU, or an entire system, and everything in between. If you want specific advice on graphics cards, do feel free to drop me an email - [email protected] , and I'll see what I can do. I remember only too well my mum's travails trying to buy me the correct Leeds United kit in the late 1980s...

Rob_08 said: Comments,Rob_08,Hi Linda,as Jate suggested ( in capitals!!) Novatech are a very good option, phone and have a chat as they are very helpful and wont bewilder you with jargon.Go here. http //www novatech co uk/novatech/dont forget the dots. Best of luck and happy xmas.

JATE ENELEF said: Comments,JATE ENELEF,WHY NOT GO ON LINE WITH HIM AND TAKE A LOOK AT NOVATECH IN PORTSMOUTH, 1. YOU CAND BUILD A GREAT SYSTEM DOING JUST WHAT HE NEEDS FOR HALF THE PRICE AND THEY WILL ADVISE AND BUILD A SYSTEM TO SPECIFICATIONS FOR YOU AND YOU WONT BE PAYING FOR A SYSTEM AND THEN ADDING BITS TO GET IT TO DO WHAT YOU WANT ITiF I MAY SUGGEST, GO FOR AN ATHLON DUAL OR QUAD PROCESSOR WITH 2 GIGABYTES OF RAM ON BOARD, GET THEM TO SUGGEST A GOOD GRAPHICS CARD AS MINE ALTHOUGH RUNNING AT 30 FRAMES PER SECOND ON LINE WITH FLIGHT SIM, IS NOW OLD HAT.. I HAVE BUILT ABOUT 80 SYSTEMS SUPPLIED IN BITS TO ORDER FROM NOVATECH, I HAVE SENT 2 BACK AS FAULTY IN THE LAST 2 YEARS AND HAD IMMEDIAT REPLACEMENTS WITH NEW, WITH NO QUIBBLES, I RECKON YOU WILL GET VALUE FOR MONEY, AND A HAPPY YOUNGSTER AND HAVE SOME CHANGE FOR YOURSELF.. IF I MAY ADD, DEAREST IS NOT ALWSAYS BESTMERRY CHRISTMASJATE.

linda said: Comments,linda,wanted to get my 15 year old son a new tower as a suprise, but the video card they suggested is manli gtx 285 1g dual dvi. ( I have no idea what any of that means) He plays all those new games and the machine he has just no longer cuts it, does anyone know frames rate per second for call of duty for example??? Thanks from a confused Mother